Summer Anime Talk: No Game No Life

Just like in American television, Japan has different seasons when new shows air. The summer anime season started roughly five weeks ago and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the current crop of anime that started up. Over the next few days I'm gonna talk about a different anime I'm watching at the time (I watch a LOT of anime generally). Today I'm going to talk about No Game No Life.

This talk is about the first four episodes of No Game No Life. Spoilers will follow so please read at own risk.

No Game No Life is a perfect anime to talk about on a gaming website because the anime is about playing games. NGNL follows the tale of Sora and Shiro a pair of sibling Hikikomori NEETs who make four undefeated online gamers called Blank. Yes you read that right four undefeated online gamers, I was actually impressed at how well Sora played using his arms and feet to control the computer mouse. For those who don't know what a Hikikomori NEET (literally "pulling inward" and "Not in Education, Employee or Training) is basically a phenomenon of young adults who confine themselves in their houses; socially withdrawing themselves. Sora and Shiro spend all day playing online games because they feel the world they live in is a "crappy game." Until one day when they get brought to fantasy world by a boy calling himself God.

This God has made all violence and warfare forbidden, everything must be decided by games; everyone must follow the eight pledges when deciding on games. Sounds like a perfect world for Shiro and Sora (they like to brag that Blank never loses). What could of turned into a generic one-sided anime is shaping up to be a pretty well rounded show.

At first it seems like Shiro and Sora just wanna play games and be number one in everything they do. You find out early on that humans or Imanitys are the weakest race of the sixteen created races in this world (they can't even use magic in this world...aww). Sora and Shiro are not very likely characters, though because they have to be number one they want to conqueror the other races so they could challenge God himself.

It's nice to see that Shiro and Sora don't fall under any stereotypically anime tropes unless we are counting the little sister is in love with the big brother trope; then its got one. I love how both characters always look like they want to sleep probably from having almost no sleep back in the real world. I've only seen it once but these can't even be more than a few meters away from each other or they suffer separation anxiety, which made for a pretty funny scene. I also find a lot of enjoyment in watching Sora break down his plans or strategies as games unfold. I won't spoil it here but the chess battle in episodes 3 and 4 was very entertaining.

I don't wanna talk too much about final opinions of the show just yet because some animes are known to start off great then tapered off at the end (see Sword Art Online). For now I recommend this to anyone looking for something is different from your usual crop of harem and shonen anime. Let me know in the comments if anyone else is watching this show or wants to know more specific details.

You can watch episodes of No Game No Life on Crunchyroll. Premium members watch day and date with Japan. Free users wait an extra week.